Such a perfect sound
by Lau Ackerman
Summary: Hange and Levi clarify some things once the final battle is over. Manga spoilers. Sort of an AU because it's an imaginary ending. Rated M for language.


**This story is a very, very fluffy Levihan. It has been in my head for a while, since a friend of mine gave me the idea. The story occurs at the end of SNK and is kind of a headcanon because I know Isayama is going to make the ending a lot more painful than the one I'm describing here, which is as happy as it can get from when we are right now.** **Anyway, I'll just leave you with the story.**

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As the roar from the battle that had just taken place on Paradis island died down, Hange let herself fall to the ground. She was tired, she was beaten up, had a number of minor injuries that would require some sort of attention later and, most importantly, she was relieved. She wouldn't dare say that she was happy –she couldn't, not when so many lives had been lost on both sides– but she was definitely relieved.

She stayed that way, sitting on the ground, for a few moments. She tried to recognize every soldier that was still on the battlefield in front of her. Tried to find her friends among those faces. But she didn't. Anyway, she had faith in them, and so she felt in her heart that they were alright.

She knew this to be true at least for Armin, who had been fighting alongside Annie, their surprising new ally, and for Connie and Jean, who she saw right before she went to where she was sitting in that moment. But she had no idea of where and how Eren and Mikasa were. They had been fighting Zeke, but she had no idea of how that had turned out. If they hadn't defeated him, they might still be in deep trouble, but she couldn't think about that possibility in that moment.

Because she didn't know where Levi was.

She hadn't seen him since the very beginning of the battle. He had murmured a 'don't die out there, four-eyes' and went away before she could tell him not to die either. It had warmed her heart dearly, and she couldn't help but smile at the nickname since it had been so long since he had used it on her for the last time.

She knew he couldn't be dead. He just couldn't be. There were still so many things unsaid between them, so much lost time to make up for. Because none of them had had the courage to voice certain feelings, not when they knew it was very likely that they wouldn't make it another day, but now it was different. Now they had _won_.

There were no more titans to slay, no more battles against foreign armies to fight. They were free to live a hopefully long, quiet life. And she'd be damned if after everything they had been through together that life wasn't going to be with him.

She had just began to stand up so she could start looking for him when someone sat down right beside her.

"Seriously, shitty-glasses, I'm retiring after this. I'm getting old and I'm tired of this shit."

Hange looked at him as if she was seeing a god having just come down from heaven itself. And, she had to admit, it was very close to that.

Even when he was all bloody, sweaty, covered in dirt and exhausted, Hange was sure that she had never seen anything as beautiful as the man that was now sitting next to her. He had definitely seen better times, but that didn't matter to her because he was _alive_. And with her.

"What the fuck are you looking at, four-eyes? You have that same eyes you make when you see a class-15."

Hange then realized that she had been caught staring. She was also sure that her face was glowing red in that moment.

"That would be ridiculous, Levi. You're too tiny to be mistaken with a class-15." Levi wasn't one to take the jokes about his height with humor, but for some reason he let this one pass.

They sat for a few moments in comfortable silence, staring at the scenario in front of them. Hange saw the silhouettes of Eren and Mikasa coming to meet the rest of their group, finally. She sighed in relief. They were both alright, even if Eren appeared to be exhausted and was leaning on Mikasa for support. God knew how many transformations he had to perform during the fight against his brother.

"It appears the brat has made it. He defeated Zeke." Levi said in a quiet voice next to her, startling her a little. "It's over."

Those words had a very powerful meaning in that very moment. Yes, it was over. The war, the titans, the threat of the attack from Marley or from the rest of the world… Everything was over now. They had finally won their freedom.

Hange never thought she would see this day come. She couldn't help but think about those who gave their lives so humanity –the eldian race, as they knew now– to reach this point, and her heart ached a little. Nanaba, Mike, Moblit… Erwin. They all died fighting for this moment and now that it had arrived, she felt sad they didn't get to see it.

She kept watching the brats –as Levi called them all the time– congratulate each other. Connie and Jean were smiling, although they were bittersweet smiles, no doubt because of Sasha. Armin had tears in his eyes as he looked at all his friends. Annie's smile was both shy and sad, since she was glad for her new comrades, but had just betrayed her own country.

Mikasa's expression was tired, but full of relieved, while talking with Armin. At her side, Eren was looking at his friends with a strange expression. Hange worried for a moment, because she didn't know anymore what was going on in that kid's head, but then he looked at Mikasa, and her fears disappear. Eren was smiling. Like, truly smiling, like she hadn't seen him do in a long, long time.

It was really over.

"Well, I guess we can all retire now. We can start a cleaning business together. You clean, I do the paperwork. What do you say, midget?"

Honestly, all she could do was joke. She felt relieved and all that, yes, but she also felt terribly empty. For the first time since Hange could remember, they didn't have a next battle to focus on. They were free to do whatever the hell they wanted, and although when she was thinking that he was dead she had been so sure that whatever she did, she wanted to do with him, now that he was sitting right by her side it occurred to her that maybe he didn't want the same thing.

Hange turned to him because he had gone oddly quiet. Normally, when she said stuff like that he would snort and insult her in some way. But this time he was just looking at her with the oddest expression she had ever seen him wear. His face was blank, but his eyes were a little more open than usual and he seemed at a loss of words. He even blinked a few times.

Hange was starting to worry about his sanity when the last thing that she ever thought could happen, happened.

Levi started laughing.

And it wasn't a quiet laugh under his breath in a 'you're unbelievable' way. No, it was a full on, very loud laughter. She didn't even know he could laugh like that. She watched him for a while, mesmerized in his expression. She had never seen him look so careless, so free. If anyone had caught her looking at him in that very moment, they would have thought she was an idiot, because that was exactly the face she was making, of that she was sure.

Then, Levi started to sound as if he had lost the air and he fell on his back, still laughing. He was by then grabbing his abdomen and a few tears were running down his cheeks. Hange got scared for second because she was sure that he had collapsed, if only because he wasn't used to laughing like that.

He began to roll from one side to the other, like he couldn't or didn't know how to stop laughing. She then calmed down, as he seemed to be ok, and smiled like a fool again. But she couldn't help it. Levi fucking Ackerman was _laughing_ like a mad man. And to her it was the most celestial sound she had ever heard.

It took him a couple of minutes, but he finally started to calm down. He was understandably out of breath, still lying on his back. He was still smiling when he wiped his tears away and got a little up, supporting his weight in his elbows to look at her.

"That was a funny one, four-eyes." He told her. He was still smiling, but there was something warm in that gesture that got Hange all nervous, although she did her best to hide it.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't expecting you to be so affected by it."

"Well, it was very funny. The craziest, funniest idea I've ever heard from you. And that is saying something." He got into a sitting position again, one arm on his bent knee and the other hand on the ground, next to hers.

Hange felt her heart fall a little at his words. He thought her idea was funny. And crazy. He thought that staying together after all of this was one of her crazy, funny ideas. She had wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, but he didn't. That much was clear.

She just looked at him for another moment. He was watching the kids, who were now joking around, full of joy for having won the battle. He had a content expression. He looked peaceful, like she had never seen him be.

Hange then decided that that was enough. If he didn't want to stay with her, it was ok. The only thing she wanted was for him to look like that forever. And to hear the beautiful sound of his laughter more often. She might have just heard it for the first time, but she had already decided that it was her new favorite sound.

"Again with the strange look, shitty-glasses? You're creeping me out."

Uh-oh. She had been caught staring. Well, what gives.

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering that, if my idea seems so crazy to you, what do you think you'll be doing now that the war is over?" She bit her lip and looked down while asking him this. It was the fastest way to get away with the staring, but she realized that it hadn't been too intelligent of her, since she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

Levi just stared back at her. As if he was trying to figure out what was going through her brain. She prayed he didn't find out.

"Well, I said it was a crazy idea, but I always go along with your crazy ideas, don't I?"

At that, Hange looked up back at him just to see that warm smile again. This time, she was sure it was all for her.

"Yeah, you do." She smiled back at him.

"So, cleaning business, you say?" He laid back again, but this time he took her hand in his and tugged, so she laid back on the ground next to him, their hands still laced together. "I think I might be good at that."

"You don't say…" She teased him. She knew better than anyone how he was when it came to cleaning.

"Hey, don't you dare teasing me. If it wasn't for me, you would have died drowned in your own shit years ago. And you know it", he quickly added when she tried to talk back.

"Of course, I definitely have to thank you for dragging me to the bathroom against my will at least once a week since the day we met."

"Hey, I didn't do it the first few weeks, I wasn't that familiar with you."

"You weren't that familiar with me when you started doing it either!" She protested, pushing herself up to a sitting position again. She tried to sound annoyed by all those _lies_ , but in truth, she was enjoying their banter very much.

"Maybe, but I couldn't stand being around you when you smelled like _that_ all the time." He said nonchalantly.

"At that time I was so sure that you only wanted to see me naked. Then I realized that you were only a little clean freak."

"Trust me, four-eyes, if that had been the reason, I would've made it much clearer."

Hange didn't know what it was exactly, but something in the way he had said that made chills run down her spine and her cheeks burn. Perfect, she was a grown ass woman, commander of a faction of a country's army, and she was behaving like a teenager.

"Well, I wouldn't know, I've never seen you make anything like that clear." She almost regretted the words that had come out of her mouth, because Levi stared at her with an intensity that she couldn't decipher. Was he mad at her? Had she gone too far with her teasing?

She almost regretted the words, but didn't, really, because before she could Levi pushed himself up to her level and kissed her. And what a kiss it was.

It wasn't an innocent peck, nor it was a chaste kiss on the lips. No, he was kissing her passionately and she couldn't do anything other than kiss him back.

They broke apart when they felt completely out of breath, but didn't let go of each other.

"Have I made it clear now?" He asked her, with his forehead against hers and his eyes closed.

"I think so, yes." She knew she was showing that stupid smile on her face again, but she couldn't help herself, not now. "Cleaning business, then?" He separated from her a little, to look at her with a smirk on his face, but with absolute warm in his eyes.

"Or whatever else you want. I'll follow you anywhere, shitty-glasses. You know that."

"I wasn't too sure of that until five minutes ago, actually."

Levi was going to respond, but then they heard the kids yell at them. They looked as if they wanted them to come over to where they were. Suddenly, Hange started to panic. How much had they seen? If they had actually seen what she was afraid they had seen, would they make fun of them? Those little devils had grown into very sharp-tongued bastards. Ah, wonderful, now she sounded like Levi.

"I'm going to kill those brats, I swear." He groaned as he got up. "Come on up, four-eyes, they seem to want to celebrate with us."

"You know, it's no use to call them 'brats' if you keep treating them like they are our children. We all know you love them, so drop the name-calling." She knew he was going to retort, but she couldn't help herself. However, she wasn't ready for what he said.

"I also love you and I keep calling you four-eyes and shitty-glasses."

She stood two steps behind him, completely frozen by his words. He stopped and turned to look at her and, seeing her so astounded, he laughed out loud again.

"Come on, Hange, _our kids_ are waiting for us." He said while still smiling widely, reaching out to her. She just looked at his outstretched hand in disbelief.

"You say something like that and just act like it's every other Monday to you? God, for a moment I had forgotten who I was dealing with."

Levi lifted an eyebrow and kept smiling. He didn't retreat his hand.

"What? You wanted me to get on my knees and give you flowers? Never thought you would like that kind of thing."

"You're right, that's not us at all." Now she was the one smiling. "I wouldn't want you to get on your knees and get all that dirt on your pants, I love you too much to make you go through that."

Levi laughed again. Third time in a row. This time, Hange laughed with him, taking his hand in hers, walking towards the kids.

She could get used to hearing his laughter more often, she thought. Her new favorite sound. Such a perfect sound.

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 **Well, I hope you liked it. Fluffy as promised. And not to OOC, I hope. I just have this impression that these two are such dorks when they are together of with the group, even if they want to make everyone believe that they are tough and rough. Reviews will be welcome. And please keep in mind that English is not my first language.**


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